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Laughter benefits our bodies and minds in many ways. Over forty years ago, Norman Cousins, struggling with a life-threatening disease found that 10 minutes of laughter gave him two hours of sleep without pain. Standford University's Dr. Willliam Fry found that laughter is good physical exercise which stimulates most of the body's physiological systems, reduces risk of respiratory infections, and increases production of endorphins, the body's "feel good hormones". Dr. Lee Berk of Loma Linda University found that just watching humorous videos thirty minutes a day lowered heart patients' arrhythmias, stress hormone levels, and the number of recurrent heart attacks in the group, and decreased their need for medication.
Experimental studies at IT companies in the US and India have found that regular laughter practice also decreased blood pressure and stress hormone production, decreased negative feelings, and increased positive emotions, sociability, and feelings of effectiveness in the workers.
At another company in Bombay , the owners instituted laughing practce for 15 minutes each day. Over the course of a year, they found increased morale and productivity and lowered absenteeism. The company's business doubled, and the owners attributed the growth largely to the the daily laughter practice.
Another case in point: Dr. Madan Kataria, founder of Laughter Yoga International, led a laughter seminar at a time-share sales company in Honolulu. That day, the company had its best sales of the year!
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